NiGHTS: The Burst Saga
by Cyber Angel Rowan
Summary: An unofficial sequel to "Here, Kitty, Kitty". A young Nightmaren escapes from the Land of Forgotten Dreams, into a new life where the Lord of Nightmare is gunning for him and his twin sister. Still, it's not as bad as being forgotten. Rated T cause I'm paranoid. On hiatus due to lack of inspiration and a serious need to rework this failure
1. Sweet Dreams

**Hey everyone! This is my first ever fic!**

**NiGHTs: Let's hope it goes well.**

**Aagh! WTF are you doing here?**

**NiGHTS: I'm one of the main characters! I have a right to be here!**

**I guess. Well, as long as you're here could you do the disclaimer?**

**NiGHTS: Okay! Cyber Angel Rowan doesn't own anything in this story. Just the plot and the OC's.**

**You do know I made you a girl in this story, right?**

**NiGHTS: I don't mind! :)**

**Just letting you know now so you don't Paraloop me later. This can be considered an unofficial sequel to "Here, Kitty, Kitty" and uses characters and concepts from it in later chapters. I do not own them. Oh, and if the writing style seems to jump around a little, that's because I'M AN ASPY AND I'M F***ING PROUD OF IT!**

Prologue

Hello, my name is Burst, and I'm here to set something straight about "The World of Dreams".

Now, some of you humans think that this "World of Dreams" is just a place made up by fanfic writers so they can get people to read their stories.(1) And this supposed world is split into two distinct realms, the realm of the good dreams, Nightopia and the world of the Nightmare.

Now, I've got news for everyone. There is a Nightopia, and there is a Nightmare. There are Nightopians and, regrettably, there are Nightmarens.

But most of those who realise this do not know of a third realm, The Realm of Forgotten Dreams, populated by both...

**TWANSITION!**

Burst opened his eyes to another day. Climbing out of his hammock, disentangling his "jester horns" as he called them, and stretching, he noticed two things out of the ordinary.

One, the gems that were on his chest and hands, easily visible through the thin, brightly coloured, two-sizes-too-big shirt and thin white gloves he wore, were glowing, effectively turning the Nightmaren into a moving streetlight.

Two, his parents weren't knocking on his door to ask why he hadn't got up yet. They'd been knocking less and less lately but today they weren't knocking at all.

He opened the door. They were just sitting there, talking and laughing. Eventually his parents walked right by him, into their room and locked the door.

Burst's heart sank and tears formed in his large, teal, catlike eyes. The thing he had been dreading all of his life had finally happened. His own parents had forgotten first his sister, Stardust, and now him. **Right,** Burst thought.** I'm leaving. No point in sticking around.**

The broken-hearted Nightmaren collected his few possessions and a picture of his parents, shoved them into his backpack, donned his cap, adjusting his horns so the cap would fit, and walked out of the only home he'd ever known.

He'd planned to walk out of the front yard all slow and dignified but the instant his foot hit the grass he shook his head and ran, sparkling dust flying from his hands as he took off for parts unknown.

Eventually Burst came to a bridge crossing the Dark Ocean. It looked old and appeared to be rotting in more than a few places, but Burst was a light little Nightmaren, and his backpack didn't weigh much.

He stepped carefully along the bridge, clinging to the rope like his life depended on it, which it did. He was almost to the other side of the bridge when he noticed that the last three planks were missing. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, Burst jumped forwards, half expecting to fall. He landed and felt hard tiles underneath him. His eyes flew open. He was safe.

Burst stood, dusted himself off and looked around. He was in some kind of plaza, surrounded by doors with a fountain in the centre. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Burst whirled around. An owl was perched on a nearby rock. "Yeah, I guess...But where is here?" Burst replied.

The owl flapped closer. "This is the Dream Gate, the entrance to a Visitor's dreams." Burst nodded and yawned. "Man, didn't realise I was so tired. What was your name again?"

"My name is Owl. What is yours, and how did you get here?" The Nightmaren sat down on the edge of the fountain. "My name's Burst, and I came over the bridge over there." Owl looked stunned.

"Over the bridge? Only two others have ever come from over that rickety old thing, both Nightmarens." Burst jumped up.

"Did one of them look a bit like me, have black eyes, Gothic tastes in clothes, about my height, black pauldron with a white star on her right shoulder, playful attitude?"

The old bird blinked. "I think...Yes, now that you mention it I do recall someone that fits that description, called herself Stardust." Just then sweet, soft music reached Burst's ears. "What's that?" Owl smiled in his way. "That's NiGHTS, playing her flute."

Even as he spoke, another Nightmaren flew into the plaza and hovered above the fountain. It struck Burst how much they looked alike. Their horns were positioned the same way, they were both tall, they both had slim hands with spidery fingers at the ends of long arms, with legs to match.

Even the way they dressed was similar, they both were clothed in outfits that would fit well on any jester, but while Burst's shirt and pants were light blue with green explosion highlights with horns the colour of his eyes, this Nightmaren was clothed in red and purple with white and gold patterns and a red jewel on her chest, complete with purple horns. "Hey Owl, who's your friend?" "This is Burst, a Nightmaren from the Land of Forgotten Dreams."

The jester frowned. "That's the third one in as many months, as near as I can figure out. First Kitty, then Stardust and now this one." Burst felt a flash of annoyance. "The name's Burst. I'm Stardust's twin brother. And you are?"

The other Nightmaren grinned. "I'm NiGHTS. Nice to meet you." The boy grinned back. Then a wave of tiredness brought him to his knees. "What's wrong?" NiGHTS asked, leaning forward. Burst shook his head. "Just...Tired." The young Nightmaren stumbled over to a tree and let the world turn black.

NiGHTS smiled. "He's a plucky one." Owl nodded. "We need to get him to Delight City. There's no telling what Wizeman will do with him if-" A piercing screech cut through the air. Burst jerked awake. "What was that?" NiGHTS growled. Owl turned to the young Nightmaren. "We need to get out of here!" "Get them!" a voice yelled.

"Reala." NiGHTS muttered. Another Nightmaren rose up from the ground. He was similar to NiGHTS and Burst got the feeling that these two could be best friends if they weren't polar opposites. This guy was dressed in red and black, with red horns, a gold mask over his eyes and wickedly sharp claws.

Burst felt rather than saw the gems on his chest beginning to glow brighter and his eyes glowed as well, cycling through the colours of the Ideya so fast they looked like strobe lights. He slowly rose into the air until he floated level with Reala and yelled, "BACK!" The very air around the evil Nightmaren was injected with rainbow light, torn apart, spun around, and slapped back together with a massive BOOM!

The red jester flew through several trees, skipped across a small pool like a river stone and crashed into the fence that surrounded the Dream Gate hard enough to point the top of it back the way he came. NiGHTS stared. Burst floated back down and passed out. Owl was stunned.

"What was that?" NiGHTS took the boy on her back. "Questions later, for now we need to get this one to Delight City. The Rebels won't be happy with another mouth to feed, but we'll all do what we can." NiGHTS nodded and disappeared.

**(1) Heh heh.**

**This is my first fanfic so no flames plz!**


	2. Beautiful Nightmares

**Alright, next chapter! We introduce Burst's sister and go to war!**

**(Reala limps over)**

**Dude, what happened to you?**

**Reala: The last chapter happened, idiot!**

**Someone woke up on the wrong side of Nightmare this morning. Now shut up and do the disclaimer or face...(epic voice)THE FANGIRLS.**

**Reala: 0_0' Cyber Angel Rowan doesn't own NiGHTS into Dreams or NiGHTS Journey of Dreams. Kitty and Demon belong to Eternal Imagination. Everything else is his.**

**Good boy.**

Burst woke up about halfway to Delight City. Owl noticed he was awake and flapped closer. "How are you feeling, Burst?" The boy rubbed his eyes. "Pretty good actually. I feel like I just took a really long, hot bubble bath. Where are we?" "We're en route to Delight City. We have friends there. And your sister."

Burst shook himself. "Could I try flying?" NiGHTS grinned. "OK. Let's see what you can do." Burst jumped off her back and imitated her, spreading his arms out and keeping his legs straight.

"See? Nothing to it!" NiGHTS laughed. "I've seen Visitors do that." Burst raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? Check this!"

He started a loop, flipping over and over as he went up, stalling at his peak, and somersaulting back down. Owl flapped inbetween the two Nightmarens. "If you are quite finished with your acrobatics, we're there." "Not yet, I don't think!"

A green blur knocked NiGHTS away and turned to face Burst. The boy put his hand to his chin in thought. "Right, so that entrance was...okay, but your form was all wrong. What's your name?" The green Nightmaren blinked. "Uh...Demon." "Okay Demon, show me what your starting position was."

Demon crouched awkwardly. "Right, feet together, arms out, head up, and SPRING!" Demon sprang... and shot straight into a nearby tree.

While correcting Demon's sloppy crouch, Burst had managed to turn him around so he would fly into the nearest hard object. The boy burst out laughing. "Oh, man, that was SO FUNNY! NiGHTS, you alright?" NiGHTS twinkled into view, slightly dazed. "I'm fine."

"Hey, NiGHTS! Down here!" Burst looked earthwards. There was a boy, standing at the entrance to the city, waving at them.

He was wearing a blue and yellow vest over a red shirt, beige shorts and sneaker. He had blond hair and his eyes were pale blue. "Who's that?" Burst asked Owl. "That's Will, a Visitor."

NiGHTS was already floating down to meet him. Burst followed. "Hey Will! What's up?" Will grinned. "Oh, nothing much. You Rebels taking care of my city?" "You know it. How's Helen?" "Her leg's getting better. She seems to have a thing for hurting her leg, doesn't she?" "Yeah, ever since Neon Alley it's been one fall after another."

They laughed. "So, NiGHTS, who's your new friend?" "Will, this is Burst, Burst, Will." Burst bowed, placing one hand on the gem in the middle of his chest and extending the other out to the side. Will smiled. "Nice to meet you, Burst. Hey, what are those gems in your chest?"

Burst frowned. "I don't know, Will, they've been there since I was born. My sister Stardust has them too." Will studied them. Then understanding flashed across his face. "Ideya! Those gems are Ideya!" Owl peered closer. "You're right, my boy!"

Burst looked confused. He glanced down at the gems in his chest, arranged in the shape of a cross(AN: The crucifix kind, not the X kind). "What are Ideya?" Owl went to explain bit Will beat him to it.

"Ideya are strong positive traits that dwell within the hearts of Visitors like me. This one here at the top represents Courage, the white one on your left symbolises Purity, the blue one on your right represents Intelligence, this green one symbolises Growth and the yellow one at the bottom represents Hope."

Burst blinked. "Wow. So what does this purple one represent?" he asked, pointing to a slightly larger gem in the centre of the cross. Will looked puzzled. "I don't know Burst; I haven't seen it before." Owl cleared his throat.

"If I may be of assistance? That Ideya is one of the rarest of all, the Ideya of Love. It only emerges from a Visitor's heart if something terrible has happened to a member of their family in the past. Nowadays it's extremely rare to find it in the heart of a Visitor, and almost unheard of to find it in a Nightmaren." Will frowned. "Why almost unheard of?" "Because, young Visitor, three months ago we met a Nightmaren who had shards of the Ideya of Love in her hands."

Will nodded. "I remember you guys telling me about her. I think she called herself Kitty." "Kitty?" Burst interjected. "She was one of our best friends before her parents forgot about her. Such a shy little violet."(1) NiGHTS smiled knowingly. "You wouldn't say that if you saw her now, Burst. Anyway, we gotta go Will." "Hey, no problem. I'll come with you."

Will's entire body flashed with rainbow light and his appearance began to change. His limbs became longer and slender. His eyes became larger, and their colour deepened. Horns sprouted from his hair. His clothes rewove themselves. He flashed again.

Burst blinked. The being who stood before him was obviously still a Visitor, but looked more like Reala with navy blue where red should be, with a different mask, and his eyes held none of the cruelty Reala's did. "How did you do that?"

Will laughed. "Customised NiGHTS Persona. Made it myself. Impressive, isn't it?" "Very impressive. Now let's go!" Burst zoomed off in a cloud of red Twinkle Dust. NiGHTS and Will shook their heads and followed.

"Okay Burst, lemme show ya 'round. This entire city is used as a base for the Nightmaren Rebel Alliance, or NRA (A/N: Not to be confused with NRMA). They are a group of Nightmarens who have had their eyes opened to Wizeman's many injustices." Will explained as they flew through the city.

Burst looked around. "A lot of this city looks deserted." NiGHTS took over. "That's just how we want it to look. The more harmless the city looks, the less Wizeman will suspect it. But you're right Burst, this part of the city is mostly unused. We have lookouts stationed all over the outskirts of the city but no one else lives here."

"You just wait until we get further in," Will said. "It looks awesome." Burst was about to reply when he looked down. Will was right. It did look awesome. Neon lights wherever you looked, and music drifted up from several buildings.

Burst could make out a saxophone, a harmonica, a harp, **Probably Kitty**, he thought, and a keyboard. **Wait. A keyboard!** "That's my sister! I'd know that keyboard anywhere!"

Burst zoomed off towards the sound. The sounds of the bustling city made it hard to pinpoint the exact location. Then he had an idea. "Time for some invisible rocking out!"

Burst held his hands as one would a guitar, took a deep breath and played the mother of all power chords. The wave of pure sound blasted down the street, only to be answered and neutralised by a second, equally massive sound wave. Burst grinned. "THAT got her attention."

No sooner had he said this than a Nightmaren fitting the description given to Owl in the first chapter of this story flew straight into him. "Burst!" "Star!" They both started talking at once. "Where have you been?" "I missed you so much!" "How did you get here?" Then they suddenly stopped.

Stardust hung her head. "They forgot you too, didn't they?" Burst nodded sadly. "Ya wanna see my pad?" Burst smiled. "I'd love to."

"Wow. This is even better than our old room." Burst was standing in a decent-sized room with a hammock by the window and a bookshelf. "Where'd you get the books from?" the boy asked, pointing at said shelf.

Starburst looked over. "We got them from this one bookworm Visitor who's been to The Land of Forgotten Dreams himself. He wrote this whole heap of books about the Waking World for us. Very interesting."

Just then an alarm sounded. The two Nightmarens rushed outside. "NiGHTS! What's going on?" NiGHTS looked grim. "Reala, Demon and the second-levels is what's happening." "Second levels?" "You'll find out soon enough."

Another Nightmaren ran up to NiGHTS. This one was even shorter than Burst but it was obvious he was important. "The enemy is approaching, ma'am. Shall I ready the Entities?" NiGHTS nodded. "Make sure they're stoked nice and hot, Zoan. Quite a few Nightmarens will be walking away from this with Ideya burns."(2) "Yes ma'am!"

Zoan ran off just as Will flew down with a determined look on his face. "I managed to get into The World of Glass. Helen's on her way with support. These scumbags won't be taking my city without a fight." NiGHTS nodded in approval. "Good. But you better get ready for a fight too, Will. If these guys are planning what I think they are, we're in for a pretty rough time.

Burst floated high above Delight City, a sword held in his hand. His sister was beside him, a pocket-sized spellbook floating above her left hand, a staff in her right. The lookout's signal rang out. "Here they come!" No sooner had the call sounded than the opposing force charged.

"Let's get 'em." And they swooped down into battle, gems glowing brightly.(3) In the city centre Will was flinging Ideya blasts of all colours around like dodgeballs, mixing them in with Blue Chips to add to the insanity. The blasts were mostly aimed at second levels like Girania(4) and Chamelan, the Blue Chips being reserved for the hordes of third-level Nightmarens that were pouring over his city.

Now and then he saw a red or blue blur streak past and bury itself in a nearby enemy, a sign that Jackle, a former second level that had defected, was doing what he did best. At one point the two were back to back, tossing Chips and cards at whoever got close.

"So Jackle," Will ducked under a Seapo's iron ball and forced a burst of Purity down it's throat. "What's with this new look you've got going?" Jackle cackled. "I was upgraded by the Ideya of Love, what happened to you?" The orange jester threw a card through three separate Mamus. "Self-made Persona." "Ah." They both took to the air, taking out various Nightmarens as they went.

Meanwhile, Burst and Stardust were grappling with the second levels. Burst was charging Donbalon with everything he had, smacking the demented clown...balloon...thing into one building after another.

Stardust was busy with the cat witch known as Bomamba. They were balancing on top of a magic seal, which was itself balancing on the witch's staff.(5) The girl was acrobatically dodging the cat's spells - which consisted of said feline calling one of the many small, ball-like cats up from the seal to hover in front of her hand, charging it with dark energy and launching it at the girl - and even firing off a few of her own, reading from her pocketbook and directing her spells with her staff.

In a flash of inspiration the girl flew over to one of the three spherical protrusions on the seal and blasted it with her magic, sending most of the ball-cats into the air, along with their mistress.

At that same moment Burst smacked Donbalon in the direction of the building behind them. The result was a pleasing SPLAT as Donbalon squished Bomamba into the side of a skyscraper, defeating her and vaporising her seal. As the bulbous clown bounced back at the girl, laughing his head off, she charged in and blasted him with a spell that took the form of a supersized pin.

The evil Nightmaren's expression turned from malicious joy to shocked disbelief. Then he rocketed away, deflating as he went, slapping into first Chamelan, then Queen Bella before flying at Girania and flopping over his face.

The evil fish thrashed around, trying to get the remains of the rotund clown off his face. He leaped high into the air and smashed into the ground, finally managing to get the deflated jester off him.

Ironically, at that very second he was blasted in the face by a large crystal which sent him flying into the side of a casino. Will whipped his head around. "Helen!" Burst looked over. The girl was another clone of NiGHTS, except with long blonde hair and predominantly pink clothes with hot pink horns, and an elegant Persona mask over her eyes.

She held a staff similar to the one held by Stardust, the main differences being that the Visitor's staff glowed and was topped with a jagged crystal. "Hey Will! What's up? Hope Fish Face here wasn't giving you any trouble."

Will shrugged. "Oh, nothing too serious, but thanks for getting rid of him anyway." Helen giggled and flew off into battle, Will at her side. The Lord of the Highlands(6) raised his arms, summoning multiple rollercoaster tracks beneath them, each pointed at one of the remaining second levels. Helen swung her staff downwards, sending crystalline rollercoaster cars down each of the tracks, each one bristling with razor-sharp crystal spikes. The cars went through a series of loops, each tighter than the last. They flew at their targets at the speed of a bullet train.

All the Nightmarens could do was stand there and watch as the cars slammed into them, either killing or seriously injuring them.

NiGHTS punched a Seapo in the snout and flew up to the Princess of the World of Glass.(6) "About time you showed up Helen! We just got word that Wizeman's on his way!" The girl's eyes narrowed. "He'll regret it, I assure you." She said, smacking her open palm with the business end of her staff.

Burst and Stardust flew over. "Who is this Wizeman guy anyway?" Will looked grim. " Wizeman is the lord of the Nightmarens, and the God of Nightmare. He aims to destroy Nightopia by taking Ideya from Visitors like us." Helen nodded. "So far we and a couple of other Visitors have managed to defeat him, but he just keeps coming back, somehow."

Jackle flew over, throwing cards as he went. "He's coming!" NiGHTS turned to him. "Is Kitty in position?" Jackle nodded. "Ready and waiting." "We'll need her, too." Will interjected. "She's just a kid!" Stardust burst out. "Yeah! She can't even walk around without clinging to her doll." "Ya wanna say that again, Burst?" Jackle grinned.

The two Nightmaren siblings whirled around to see what appeared to be a young woman who looked strangely familiar. "Kitty?" Said Nightmaren grinned. "The one and only!" Burst blushed. "Look, I, um-" Kitty laughed. "Apology accepted. Now let's DO DIS THANG!"

The twins sweatdropped. Will raised an eyebrow. "You've been hanging around with the rap guy again, haven't you?"(7) "Yes. Yes, I have." And with that, she zoomed off, presumably to her position. Burst grinned. **This is gonna be good. I can tell.**(8)

**Yes, Burst, it is going to be good.**

**Reala: But not for us, I take it.**

**When I want your input I'll ask for it.**

**Reala: You dare defy the second-in-command of Nightmare?**

***Blasts him with Ideya***

**Reala: *Flies ten feet backwards, hits the ground and passes out***

**Will: Would you kill him off, please?**

**Dude, he's kind of fundamental to the whole plotline as well as both NiGHTS games, so... I'll only kill him off if I absolutely need to.**

**Helen: Would you kill US off?**

**No way! Why the hell would I do that?**

**Helen: Oh, just checking.**

**Hmmm...**

**NiGHTS: Please review!**

**1. Check out the story "Here, Kitty, Kitty" by Eternal Imagination. You won't regret it!**

**2. You'll find out soon enough. :)**

**3. Hands up who forgot that both Stardust and Burst have the exact same gems in their chests.**

**4. Anybody else frickin' HATE this things GUTS?**

**5. One of the more unsettling boss fights, I think. Starburst is lucky she ain't doing this in Nightmare 'cause she would've been ripped to shreds.**

**6. I gave Will and Helen titles based on which dream worlds I think are the most tricky. I haven't even got past the Pure Valley dream world yet. Sad, I know. :(**

**Now spot the references. Rowan out!**


End file.
